Issue 20 | August 13,2012 | critic.co.nz

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Art 38 THE DEvIL IN ME The irony of walking into Unipol for the first time ever for the sole purpose of reviewing an art installation was not lost on me. Besides being interestingly unusual, however, the setting of Siobhan Wootten’s The Tao of Avery really did make the artwork that much more impressive. Walk into Unipol expecting a painting to be just chilling in the foyer? You’ll get a bit of a shock finding three photographic artworks towering over you, imprinted onto the wall overlooking the café area. In case you were wondering, the word “tao” means “devil”, and it is an interesting choice of words considering the juxtaposition of subject matter in the three paintings that make up Wootten’s installation. Each image features a black-and-white photograph of an Olympic athlete, official, or President of the International Olympic Committee that Avery Brundage wronged in some manner, placed alongside an image of a piece from Brundage’s own Asian art collection, which currently resides at the Asian art museum of San Francisco. Apart from depicting a stunning visual parallel, with the art pieces mimicking the movements or positions of the subjects and vice versa, the two elements of each painting offer a more meaningful commentary on Brundage’s life and the pain he inflicted on these individuals. Brundage studied Taoism, a religious and philosophical Chinese tradition that emphasizes the harmony of opposites through the duality represented in the yin and yang symbol. This idea of opposing forces of shadow and light is reinforced through the meaningful depiction of Brundage’s actions in Wootten’s work, with the positive act of donating his artwork contrasting with the pain he caused others in his Olympic career. The photographs themselves are incredible, and the juxtapositions make for a highly visually appealing contrast. But it’s the back story representing both the “good” and “bad” in Avery Brundage’s life which really makes the artwork come alive. The Tao of Avery by Siobhan Wootten Unipol Plaza | 27 July – 23 August 6, 12 Art Editor | Beaurey Chan | art@critic.co.nz BITS AND BOBS Tetris is what my mind immediately conjured up when I first saw Suel Novell’s art installation Zoom. Obviously it was a foolish and uniformed first instinct, but it’s not hard to see why I immediately leaped to that conclusion. Novell’s installation consists of a series of small, interlocked rectangular-shaped canvases, each placed a certain distance and position from one another on the wall and painted over in a variety of vivid colours and patterns. While I found them to be delightfully gaudy (and fun-sized too!), I won’t say that my attention was truly captured by the artworks. At least, not until I discovered the idea that inspired them, as well as the projection (that comprised half the installation) that I probably should’ve watched before I even went near the paintings. Oops. The idea of nature is emphasised through the depiction of the four forces of fire, earth, air and water in the projection, which are represented in a pixellated manner that explains the cube-like form of Novell’s artworks. Novell draws a connection between pixels, the building blocks of the digital world, and atoms, their real-world equivalents, to emphasise the way in which these tiny elements constantly overlap in our daily environment, making up both the natural and man-made forms and structures around us. Looking at the rectangular artworks and the way they physically connect, it’s not difficult to see how they might represent both atoms and pixels – the latter of which means that my initial impression of Tetris wasn’t so far off after all... If you think St Dave’s is a bit of a peculiar space in which to exhibit artwork, consider again the subject matter of Novell’s installation. Zoom effectively communicates the commingling of science and art, a union that in my opinion should occur far more often. At the very least, it might further my stunted science education. Zoom by Sue Novell Science Library | 27 July – 23 August 6, 12
Reviewed by Walter Plinge “ …too strong to compromise, but too weak to withstand the pressure… who cannot bend, but only break.” Many Russian authors have a tortured relationship with their motherland, but for Russo-American author Ayn Rand, Soviet Russia was an object of hatred. This, her first novel, was written after she had escaped to America, the promised “abroad” — a word whispered in reverent tones throughout the book. The scene is 1920s post-revolutionary Russia, and the family of Kira Aragounova are returning to the city of Petrograd (St Petersburg) following the final defeat of the White army by the communist Reds. Kira’s father was a wealthy industrialist prior to 1917, making their family class enemies of the new Soviet state. The story follows their struggle to avoid starvation in the day-to-day depravations and insanities of the new communism. But this is only the backdrop to the real story Rand wants to tell. Rand was not keen to write her first novel about the Soviet state. Having only just escaped Russia, and still painfully young for a novelist, she felt unprepared to write about “adults”. However, she became convinced that it was necessary to deal with her Russian past in order to move on from it and into her new life in America. Rand begins with a standard plot: a young and virtuous girl who must enslave herself to the whims of a villain in order to save her heroic lover. But from simple beginnings she entwines within this love triangle an unforeseen twist used to highlight the evil of destroying individuality and free will. You can almost feel the young WE THE LIvING By ayn ranD Rand (25 at the time) developing her ideas about Russia, communism, philosophy, and love as she works her way through the extensive chunks of dialogue throughout the book. We are asked to believe that if free, Kira’s lover Leo Kovalensky would be a heroic and virtuous man. And that his failings, in the end his total failure, are not his fault, but the result of throwing a man’s will up against the authoritarian control of the Soviets. To me, Leo seemed weak compared to the nobility to anti-hero Andrei Taganov, who maintains his values throughout, despite his pursuit of an ignoble goal, and maintains his honesty when he realises the folly of his endeavour. Yet as you read, you can feel that readers would relate to each man in different ways, seeing parts of themselves in each and feeling for whichever one they identify with. The fascination of reading Rand’s earliest work is tied into her later life. She is the founder of the philosophy of objectivism, which places the happiness and success of the individual as the ultimate goal of each person’s life. In a godless world, individuals must ensure for themselves that they achieve that which is “of their highest reverence”. Any system of governance that attempts to take that away, to tie the individual to the greatness of the commune, creates the greatest form of injustice. Rand develops this new philosophy throughout the book in the tragic conversations between the protagonists about what they stand to lose to the tyranny of the communists: how inherent evil has the power to destroy them or drive them to destroy themselves. And while each of the three protagonists travels a different path, Books Editor | Josef Alton | books@critic.co.nz none survives whole. Rand’s tempo and pacing are at times infuriating. She spends pages describing the billowing smoke of the primus (admittedly her chosen symbol of the depredations of the age), while racing through moments of fraught tension and obvious significance that could be more fully developed. It reads like the work of young author with much to say but a sense that time enough to say it all may be running out. Read this book if you are interested in love, history, politics or philosophy. Its ideas are not hidden, and of all Russians authors, Rand is the easiest to read. It is the kind of book that allows you to choose your own hero, and then seeks to destroy them. www.unibooks.co.nz books 39
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Issue 20 | August 13,2012 | critic.co.nz

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